The favourite to be next French president wants Brexit to be fast, hard and uncompromising

French
politician Francois Fillon, member of the conservative Les
Republicans political party, delivers a speech at his campaign
headquarters after partial results in the first round of the
French center-right presidential primary election vote in Paris,
France, November 20, 2016.Thomas
Samson/Reuters

Francois Fillon, the former French prime minister who is in a
strong position to be elected president next year, believes
Brexit must be "fast" and leave Britain without its crucial
financial passport.

For example, he has vowed to bump up the working week by
four hours and wants to get rid of half a million jobs in the
public sector. He also holds strict socially conservative views,
like staunch opposition to equal marriage and adoption rights for
LGBT couples.

He has expressed some hardline views on Brexit, too. Here is an
extract from a speech he gave in June, five days
after the June 23 referendum, in which he outlined how he
believes France should approach Britain's exit from the EU.

This is he said (emphasis ours):

"Now the urgency is to regulate the British
case. The divorce must be serene but it should be
fast.

"The 27 must pressure the British and agree on a deadline, which
should not go beyond the end of September.

"Meanwhile, the British members of the Strasbourg
Parliament should no longer take part in votes and officials in
Brussels decisions.I would also pay tribute to
the British commissioner who, in consistency, drew the
consequences of this vote by resigning from office.

"The objectives are clear: the British out, but the English do
not make them adversaries. Neither hostility nor complacency.

"We can not have left the town house, not pay more expenses, and
benefit from the roof, room and board.

"However, we can negotiate a good neighborhood agreement. And if
they are seekers, and I hope, we must maintain and deepen defense
agreement with Britain.

"But there is no reason to give them European financial
passport, and the eurozone must recover the clearing of
its currency. In the process, we must reach out to the
French settled in the UK and those who think they should be
located within the European Union."

It is clear from this speech that Fillon would adopt a
no-nonsense approach to Brexit if elected president. He called
for a "fast" divorce and said EU officials must "pressure"
Britain to stick to its word and complete its formal departure by
2019.

The most striking part of his speech, though, focuses on what he
believes Britain must lose as an automatic result of Brexit.

He said Britain should have its lucrative European financial
passport removed, a decision that would be hugely damaging to the
City because London would cease to be Europe's central financial
hub. In turn, he added, this would lead to waves of French talent
working in the UK abandoning cities like London and returning to
France to work.

The lawyer-turned-politician also believes that British officials
should be excluded from having any say on decisions made in
Brussels, while British MEPs should be barred from voting on
legislation in EU Parliament, a move that would render their
roles almost meaningless.